We're planning our first trip to WDW in Jan/Feb 2008. I spent a great deal of time and research (and am still tweaking it) to work up a budget and make decisions about rooms, food and ticket options. We are pouring over menus and making up possible itineraries and what we'd eat with or without the plan to compare costs.....taking into account since it's our first trip we are willing to pay a little more to get the "experience" of WDW. It's much much cheaper for us to stay off site, bigger room, lower price, even when you throw in the rental car (which we'd probably get anyway even if we stay on site, because we do want to do other things and I hate waiting for transportation and these boards make it sound like LONG waits to get to the park). Instead we decided the extra cost of a room onsite was worth it for the experience.
Ok...now food.....we don't do fancy restaurants every time we go out at home, and on vacations we do hit a few local places to experience their cusine, but again, they aren't all fancy places (which my definition is that MOST of the TS places are a bit on the fancy side). So...when we caclulated it without the
DDP, it was mostly counter service plus of course the character dining, but only a couple of TS in our 3 week stay. Calculating the cost of 3 weeks of DDP vs our choices for CS/Character/TS well, it's a HUGE difference. But....we are waffling on the "but it's a great chance to try those TS places that we'd never do OOP" like so many people say. My biggest concern is in reading about people who planned this too and then reported being totally burned out on eating all that rich, fancy food, and I'm back to waffling....is it worth spending so much extra if we too will not handle fancy food for 3 weeks running (ok, a little less since there are several 2TS's, but you get my point).
So far, I am thinking do "the experience" and we'll just consider it an expensive vacation but worth the memories. But if I now have to calculate in 18% of my food costs above that...well, that's getting over expensive for us and into "out of the question".
I'll also admit that the amount of my tip is in direct correlation to the service I receive....if I have a friendly, smiling server, they get a point.....if we ask for substitutions, things to be on the side, special cooking, or something else not just straight off the menu...they get another point (or points).....if they remember to refill our drinks/water without us having to hunt them down, more points.....if they make nice with the girls and have a one minute uniterrupted "you're the only guests here" conversation....well, priceless, lol. But....if I get a server who is more interested in another table than in listening while I give my order....who doesn't get the order right (whether it's her fault or the cook, she needs to check it before she delivers it)....or if I get the big sigh when I ask for extra sauce or something....or I have to get up and get my own drink, etc....well, they lose points for that. I would never dream of NOT leaving a tip....if the service was that bad, the manager would have been involved long before the bill arrived anyway (thankfully that's only happened twice in my life). But do I automatically give the good servers the same tip amount I give the great ones? Nope....and the great ones could have gotten even more if they were "above and beyond" . I have to work harder at my job to get more money....most of us do, so servers are the same in my book. The tough part for them is they have hundreds of "bosses" to prove their worth too...I thankfully only have one, lol.
The resturants here in our town have figured out that we don't like being told how much to tip....it's supposed to be "To Insure Personal Service". Not a fee on top of the menu prices. A couple months ago a formerly very popular restaurant was on the news....they had announced they were closing their doors at the end of the month due to lack of business. News reporter does the "man on the street" thing asking people why they don't go there anymore.....and person after person says because they tacked on a required tip and the service went way down. This was a dim sum place and so you're at the mercy of the servers to get the food around to the tables. We had gone in many many times (1-2x month give or take) before the required tip and service was a bit slow but the food was great, so you endured....and tipped accordingly. We went twice after the tip requirement...and the first time the service was horrid, but we wanted to give the benefit so we tried again....well, that was the last time we went there, and that was last fall. Long story not much shorter.....apparently after the TV report aired the owner decided to do away with the required tip....the news reported this in follow up and that restaurant is still open now. We haven't gone back because in the meantime we found another dim sum place closer to home, same great food, faster service....so why bother switching back.
If Disney removes the tip from DDP, we'll probably give it up and just go for the more inexpensive route....stay off site, eat breakfast in room, do counter service at lunch and go off site or back to room for dinner. Then we may have enough budget to come back (again off site) a second time that year or have a second vacation somewhere else. It won't stop me from coming, because my kids would kill me, lol....but it does make it out of range for us to do often since we live on the other coast...it's expensive no matter what, but if you make it more expensive, well, time to reconsider future trips. It's the nickle and dime mentality (but for Disney it's ones and fives)...and eventually you run out of extras.
So...OP....what's the email address of Mr. VP so that we can all write him and tell him we appreciate his quelling the rumors of the tip being left out and telling him how we'd have changed our visits had it been true. A little reverse psychology if he is misinformed or spewing inaccuracies, hopefully he'll report up the chain that they need to keep it just a rumor nor reality.
Ok..so is anyone still reading this diatribe? LOL
, and I believe your description of how you tip mirrors that of many guests of many dining establishments. Bad service should not equal automatic large tip!
